Aaron Peirsol

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Olympic medalist
Aaron Peirsol
Medal record
Men’s swimming
Gold	2004 Athens	100 m backstroke
Gold	2004 Athens	200 m backstroke
Gold	2004 Athens	4x100 m medley relay
Silver	2000 Sydney	200 m backstroke

Aaron Wells Peirsol (born July 23, 1983 in Irvine, California) is an American competitive swimmer. He is best known for winning both available gold medals for men in the backstroke at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

After winning gold in the 100 m backstroke, he followed up by winning the 200 m event, but an initial disqualification alleged that he had made an illegal turn during the race. Having been improperly entered, the disqualification was overturned, giving Peirsol his second individual gold. Peirsol won the world championships in the 100 m backstroke in 2003 and 2005, and won 200 m backstroke in 2001, 2003 and 2005. He also holds the world record for both distances and has been undefeated in the 100m since the 2002 Spring Nationals and in the 200m since just after losing to Lenny Krayzelburg in the Sydney Olympics.

Peirsol is a student-athlete at the University of Texas, although he considers Newport Beach, California home.

His younger sister, Hayley Peirsol, is a top swimmer at Auburn University.

At the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships, Peirsol lowered his own 200m Backstroke record to 1:54.44.

[edit] Trivia

• Became an ambassador for the Surfrider Foundation in June 2005
• Became a spokesperson for Oceana [1] 2006

[edit] External links

• Aaron Peirsol's U.S. Olympic Team bio ... with notes, quotes, photos
• Biography at USA Swimming
• 20 Questions with Aaron Peirsol at USA Swimming

Olympic champions in men's 100 m backstroke

1908: Arno Bieberstein | 1912: Harry Hebner | 1920: Warren Paoa Kealoha | 1924: Warren Paoa Kealoha | 1928: George Kojac | 1932: Masaji Kiyokawa | 1936: Adolf Kiefer | 1948: Allen Stack | 1952: Yoshinobu Oyakawa | 1956: David Theile | 1960: David Theile | 1968: Roland Matthes | 1972: Roland Matthes | 1976: John Naber | 1980: Bengt Baron | 1984: Rick Carey | 1988: Daichi Suzuki | 1992: Mark Tewksbury | 1996: Jeff Rouse | 2000: Lenny Krayzelburg | 2004: Aaron Peirsol

Olympic champions in men's 200 m backstroke
1900: Ernst Hopperberger | 1964: Jed Greaf | 1968: Roland Matthes | 1972: Roland Matthes | 1976: John Naber | 1980: Sándor Wladár | 1984: Rick Carey | 1988: Igor Polyanskiy | 1992: Martin López-Zubero  | 1996: Brad Bridgewater | 2000: Lenny Krayzelburg | 2004: Aaron Peirsol

Persondata
NAME	Peirsol, Aaron
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Competitive swimmer
DATE OF BIRTH	July 23, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH	Irvine, California
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH